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March 12
1800s 1900s 1910s 1920s *1921 - Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis suspends eight members of the Chicago White Sox for their alleged involvement in the fixing of the 1919 World Series. The group includes outfielder Joe Jackson, who batted .375 in the Series. Others banned are Eddie Cicotte, Happy Felsch, Chick Gandil, Fred McMullin, Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver and Lefty Williams. 1930s *1934 - St. Louis Cardinals rookie pitcher Paul Dean ends his holdout. Dean will win 19 games for the Cardinals in his first major league season. 1940s *1946 - Negro Leagues pitching star Smokey Joe Williams dies in New York City at the age of 69. According to some sources, Williams won 41 games in 1914. Williams will win election to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999. 1950s *1951 - Commissioner Happy Chandler loses his bid to remain in office. Chandler is voted down, 9-7, in a tally of owners. Chandler, who started his term as commissioner in 1945, will be succeeded by Ford Frick. 1960s 1970s *1973 - Baseball Hall of Fame member Frankie Frisch dies in Wilmington, Delaware, at the age of 74. Frisch batted .316 over a 19-year career. As player-manager for the St. Louis Cardinals, he led the team to the 1934 World Championship. 1980s *1980 - Slugging outfielder Chuck Klein and former Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. Klein batted .320 over a 17-year career with the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and Pittsburgh Pirates. Yawkey becomes the first Hall of Fame owner who never served as a player, manager, or general manager during his career. 1990s 2000s *2006 - Four games were played today in the opener of Round Two in the inaugural World Baseball Classic: **'Pool One:' ***At Angel Stadium, Alex Rodriguez hit a bases-loaded, two-out single in the ninth inning, to give the United States a victory over Japan, 4–3, but the victory was shrouded in controversy when an umpire's ruling denied the losers a crucial run. Japan looked to have broken open a 3–3 tie at the top of the eighth when Tsuyoshi Nishioka came home on Akinori Iwamura's sacrifice fly off U.S. reliever Joe Nathan with the bases loaded. Second base umpire Brian Knight ruled the run good but U.S. manager Buck Martinez raced from the dugout to appeal to home plate umpire Bob Davidson. Davidson overruled Knight and called Nishioka out for leaving third base early, a decision that brought Japan manager Sadaharu Oh and a translator out of the dugout to argue the call. It didn't appear Nishioka left before Winn made the catch on the television replay. It was a crushing defeat for Japan who had led 3–0 after two innings and never trailed until Rodríguez's game-winning hit. Ichiro Suzuki put the U.S. in an early hole with a lead off home run off Jake Peavy to open the game. Japan added two more runs in the second. Chipper Jones answered back for the Americans with a towering home run but the U.S. could not get level until the sixth when Derrek Lee crushed a two-run shot. In the second game, Jae Weong Seo pitched 5 1/3 strong innings, Seung Yeop Lee hit a two-run home run, and South Korea beat Mexico, 2–1, for its fourth straight victory in the Classic. **'Pool Two:' ***At Hiram Bithorn Stadium, 10-time Gold Glove winner Omar Vizquel missed a double play opportunity and gave up an additional out on a fielder's choice, and Cuba capitalized with a five-run sixth inning in a 7–2 victory over Venezuela. Frederich Cepeda hit a three-run home run and Ariel Pestano followed with a solo shot as the underdog Cubans broke out after Johan Santana departed. Santana, the unanimous AL Cy Young Award winner in 2004, struck out five in five innings and gave up two hits and one earned run. Starter Yadel Martí and reliever Pedro Luis Lazo provided a solid pitching outing, and silencing the powerful Venezuelan lineup. A two-run homer by light-hitting outfielder Endy Chávez provided the only runs for the losers. In the second game, Jose Cruz, Jr. went 3-for-5 with three RBI and four Puerto Rico pitchers combined to shut down the Dominican Republic in a 7-1 victory. Javier Vázquez, José Santiago, Kiko Calero and J.C. Romero combined to limit the Dominicans to one run and six hits. Bartolo Colón matched Vázquez in the early going, allowing one run and four hits in five innings, but Puerto Rico roughed up reliever Dámaso Marte in the sixth. Vázquez allowed a solo home run to Adrián Beltré (his fourth of the Classic) for the only Dominican run. Births *1865 - Phil Knell, pitcher (d. 1944) *1866 - Denny Lyons, infielder (d. 1929) *1893 - Alex Gaston, catcher (d. 1979) *1916 - René Monteagudo, pitcher (d. 1973) *1930 - Vern Law, All-Star pitcher *1939 - Johnny Callison, All-Star outfielder *1942 - Jimmy Wynn, All-Star outfielder *1954 - Larry Rothschild, manager *1955 - Ruppert Jones, All-Star outfielder *1956 - Dale Murphy, All-Star outfielder *1962 - Darryl Strawberry, All-Star outfielder *1965 - Steve Finley, All-Star outfielder *1971 - Raúl Mondesí, All-Star outfielder *1973 - David Lee, pitcher *1979 - Dave Williams, pitcher *1979 - Félix Escalona, infielder Deaths *1973 - Frankie Frisch, Hall of Fame player and manager (b. 1898) *1978 - Gene Moore, All-Star outfielder (b. 1909) *1994 - Gordy Coleman, infielder (b. 1934) *2002 - Steve Gromek, All-Star pitcher (b. 1920)